This invention generally relates to controlling selection and delivery of broadcast video signals; and, more particularly, to remote control interaction with televisions, set top boxes and other video sources.
A typical remote control (or “Remote” as used herein) has a series of predefined buttons that, when selected, directly interact with a corresponding TV (“Television”) to perform a variety of tasks such as changing channels, adjusting TV settings, and controlling power to the TV. Such direct interaction typically comprises one-way infrared transmissions from the Remote to the TV but may also involve radio frequency transmissions.
A TV responds to transmissions received from a Remote by displaying on the TV's screen a selected channel, status or information, and/or a visual user interface for managing a control function. Upon receiving the visual user interface on the TV screen, the user may press further buttons on the Remote as needed to complete a task. Because of numerous buttons and non-standard button layout, Remotes are often difficult to use and often require users to look back and forth at the Remote and TV to complete a task.
Many types of video systems are used to provide supplemental or alternate video to the television. Many of these video systems directly source locally accessed video and others, alternatively or in addition, provide television broadcast tuners for managing television channel selection and video and audio settings. Exemplary video systems include cable, fiber and satellite Set Top Boxes (STBs), Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), and Digital Video Disk (DVD) players. Each of these video systems delivers video to a TV, and is controlled through direct interaction or via a Remote. To interact with a user, video systems deliver information via a TV's screen and speakers, and receive information directly from a Remote. Again, as previously mentioned, such interaction usually requires a user to look back and forth at the Remote and TV Screen in attempts to locate buttons and understand the Remote's operation.
With presently used Remotes, the user only finds out about channel content and button/interface effects upon selection and interaction via the TV screen. This causes disturbance to the other viewers, particularly when one viewer operates the Remote according to his and not the entire group of viewers' desires.
Also, typical interaction via a Remote, often results in undesirable channels being offered to an entire group of viewers. For example, when an adult scans through available channels by pressing an up or down button on the Remote (hereinafter “channel surfing”), channels with adult content might appear on the TV screen with an audience of young viewers present. Likewise, some viewers may be offended, shocked or otherwise dislike certain other types of content, and are often forced to view such content by the channel surfing process.
In a home TV entertainment environment, viewers typically dislike having the display of entertaining programs interrupted. A channel surfing viewer often becomes intolerable to other viewers that do not have control over the Remote. Likewise, during channel surfing, viewers that do not have control over the Remote cannot adequately participate in the channel surfing. Frustration arises when the surfing viewer goes too fast, too slow, or does not stop on one of the surfed channels. Similarly, the viewer with the Remote often finds their surfing constrained by the verbal commands from other viewers that attempt to control the process. These problems either drives away one or all of the viewers, causes viewer conflict, and/or limits channel surfing abilities.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional systems will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with the present invention described herein.